1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to user interfaces generated and displayed on electronic systems and devices. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system and method for customizing the appearance of a user interface using a palette file.
2. Introduction
Existing electronic systems and devices (hereinafter referred to collectively as electronic devices) having processing capability, such as mobile devices (e.g., cell phones, personal digital assistants) and information appliances, typically have display screens on which user interfaces are presented. The user interfaces allow users a measure of control over the applications running on the electronic device and also may be used to access and display information stored on the device. With the increasing sophistication of software applications, user interfaces have becoming increasingly complicated as well, and in some cases, up to 2500 bitmap image files are needed to render a user interface in a display.
At the same time, many users of electronic devices demand a variety of designs, while device providers would like to provide a uniform user experience. In order to deploy the same user interface on multiple electronic devices having different screen sizes, many of the user interface images need to be regenerated at slightly different dimensions. For example, mobile telephone carriers develop many different sets of these elements to customize a mobile device or mobile phone for a certain market or type of activity, repeating the process for each specific handset, which is time consuming, costly, and requires significant storage space on the device.
Additionally, there is continued and increasing interest in the ability to quickly generate a very different user experience and load it to a device that has already been purchased and is in use, offering the user a choice of “schemes.” Such schemes include offerings tuned to business, sports, world events, or special interests where graphical identity is key. Simple color changes, or “theming,” does not necessarily satisfy this need. Further property changes including color, strokes, shapes, fills, size, transitions, and effects, or “scheming,” may better achieve desired end result.
What is therefore needed is an efficient system and method for varying the appearance of a complex user interface.